Toaster door operating mechanism



05 16, 1941. I A, NAPP 2,266,324

TOASTER DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Nov. 12, 1940 Patented Dec. 16, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOASTER DOOR. OPERATING MECHANISM Andrew S. Knapp, St. Louis, Mo., assignpr to Knapp-Monarch Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation oi Missouri Application November 12; 1940, Serial No. 365,307

6 Claims.

My present invention relates to a toaster or the like wherein a common operating means is provided for opening either door-of the toaster as desired.

One object of the invention is to provide a simple operating mechanism consisting of very few parts, which are inexpensively made and assembled with relation to the toaster.

Another object is to provide a door operator which has an actuating element that may be moved either way from the central position and when moved one way will open one door without interference by the other door to the operation of the actuating element and when moved the other way will open the other door.

Still another object is to provide a knob for the actuator which may also be used in conjunction with another knob as a means to carry-the toaster from one position to the other, one knob being oscillatable to operate the doors as desired and the other knob being stationary relative to a casing for the toaster.

With the foregoing and other contemplated as well as obvious objects in view, the invention comprises the combination of elements and arrangement of parts so combined as to coact and cooperate with. each other in the performance of the functions and the accomplishment of the results herein contemplated, and comprises in one of its adaptations the species or preferred form illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of a toaster to which my invention has been applied;

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a further enlarged sectional view on the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 1, and

Figure 5 is a semi-exploded perspective view of certain parts of my door operating mechanism.

On the accompanying drawing I have used the reference character C to indicate generally a casing of a toaster. Within the casing C, the usual bread supporting grid wires l and a heating element H are provided. The heating element H may consist of an insulating sheet |2 of mica or the like and an element I3 of resistance ribbon wound thereon.

Pivoted at I4 with respect to the casing C is a door l for one side of the casing. Similarly pivoted at |6 is a door I'I for the opposite side of the casing. The doors l5 and I1 are adapted to assume a closed position, as shown at the left side of Figure 2, or an open position, as shown at the right side thereof. They are biased to their closed positions by a spring l8, as shown in Figure 4, having its central part engaged with a hook l9 of a bracket 20 extending upwardly from a base 2| of the casing C. The outer ends of the spring l8, indicated at 22', are hooked to perforated ears 23 of the doors l5 and H.

For opening the doors l5 and I1, I provide a rock shaft 24 pivoted in a perforation 25 of the casing C, as shown in Figure 3, and in a bracket B. The bracket B has a portion 26 in one plane and a portion 21 in a slightly offset plane, with the transition shoulder from one plane to the other being indicated at 28. The shoulder 28 is arcuate, being formed on a radius from the axis of the shaft 24 and rovides room in the offset portion 21 for the mechanism which will now be described.

Pivoted on the shaft 24 inside the bracket B are levers 29 and 30. Between the levers 29 and 30, I provide an actuating element 3| which is substantially triangular shaped. It is secured to the shaft 24 so as to be rotated simultaneously therewith. A knob 4| is provided on the outer end of the shaft to effect such movement of the actuating element.

The levers 29 and 30 are provided with projecting flanges 32 and 33 which extend into the path of movement of edges 34 and 35, respectively, of the actuating element 3|.

The upper ends of the levers 29 and 30 are operatively connected to the toaster doors I5 and H by links 38 and 31. The means of connection include a pair of rivets 38 carried by the doors and a pair of rivets 39 carried by the levers.

Practical operation In the use of my toaster 'door opening mechanism, when it is desirable to open either of the doors i5 or I! to reverse or remove the bread, or for the purpose of introducing bread to the toaster, the upper end of the knob 4| may be swung toward the door it is desired to open. For instance, as viewed in Figure 2, the knob has been swung clockwise (counterclockwise in Figure 1) to open the door l5 from the dotted line position to its solid line position. During this operation, the edge 34 of the actuating element 3| engages the flange 32 of the lever 29. to move the lever without interference by the door I! as the edge 35 of the actuating element 3| merely moves away from the projecting flange 33 of the lever 30. The door is opened against the bias of the left half of the spring I 8 in Figure 4 and when the knob II is released this portion of the spring will reclose the door l5 and move the knob back to its central or upright position. The other door. I! may be similarly opened by swinging the knob 4| in the opposite direction. Thus a common operating member is provided for selectively opening the doors without interference of the closed door with the door it is desired to open.

When the knob 4| is in its central position, it is aligned with a similar but stationary knob 40 on the opposite end of the casing C to give symmetry of appearance and to coact with the knob 40 as a means to carry the toaster from one position to another while it is hot. The knobs II and 40 are preferably of insulating material, -so that the toaster can be handled while hot, and since the normal tendency is for the knob ll to remain upright the doors I! and I! will remain closed during carrying of the toaster.

' From the foregoing descriptionof the mean for accomplishing this end, it is apparent that I have devised a practical and efflcient construction for carrying out the desired objects of the invention as regards a simple and economical unit of the character described, and while the foregoing represents the preferred form of embodiment of the invention, I desire to reserve the right to make whatever changes or modifications may fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a toaster door operating mechanism, a common control shaft mounted between a pair of oppositely opening toaster doors, a lateral projection on said shaft, a pair of levers pivoted on said shaft, link connections between the outer end of one of said levers and one of said doors and between the outer end of the other lever and the other door, means of cooperationbetween said lateral projection and one of said levers whereby when said shaft is rocked in one direction from a central position one door is thereby opened, and means of cooperation between said lateral projection and the other of said levers whereby when said shaft is rocked in the other direction from a central position the other of said doors is thereby opened.

2. In a toaster door operating mechanism, a control shaft mounted between a pair of openable toaster doors which are biased toward their closed positions, a lateral projection on said shaft, a pair of levers pivoted on said shaft, operative connections between said levers and said doors, a flange along one edge of one lever, a flange along the opposite edge of the other lever, one of said flanges being engaged by said lateral projection when said shaft is rocked in one direction so that one door is thereby opened, and the other of said flanges being engaged by said lateral projection so that the other door is thereby opened when said shaft is rocked in the other direction.

3. In a toaster, a casing having a pair of doors, carrying knobs for said casing at each end thereof, one of said knobs being stationary and the other one being oscillatable, a pair of levers pivoted within said casing, a link connection from one of said levers to one of said doors, a link connection from the other of said levers to the other of said doors, and means operated by said oscillatable knob to swing one of the levers about its pivotal mounting to open one door when the oscillatable knob is oscillated in one direction and to swing the other lever about its pivotal mounting to open the other door when the oscillatable knob is oscillated in the other direction.

4. In a toaster, a casing having a pair of doors, carrying knobs for said casing at each end thereof, one of said knobs being stationary and the other one being oscillatable, a pair of levers, operative connections from one of said levers to one of said doors and from the'other of said levers to the other of said doors, and an actuating element operated by said oscillatable knob to engage and swing one of the levers about its pivotal mounting to open one door when the knob is oscillated in one direction and to engage and swing the other lever about its pivotal mounting to open the other door when the knob is oscillated in the other direction.

5. In a toaster door operating mechanism, a common control shaft for a pair of oppositely opening toaster doors, an actuating lever on said shaft, a pair of door opening levers pivoted on said shaft adjacent said actuating lever, link connections between the outer end of one of said door opening levers and one of said doors and between the outer end of the other door opening lever and the other door, said actuating lever, when said shaft is rocked in one direction from a central position, coacting with one of said door opening levers to move it in a door opening direction and, when said shaft is rocked in the other direction from a central position, coacting with the other of said door opening levers to move it in a door opening direction.

6. A toaster door operator comprising a shaft oscillatably mounted, a laterally extending actuating element thereon, a pair of levers pivotally mounted on said shaft adjacent opposite faces of said actuating element, said levers each having a projection from its face, with one projection located adjacent one edge of said actuating element and the other projection located adjacent the opposite edge of said actuating element whereby said one projection is engaged by the actuating element when the shaft is rocked in one direction and the other projection is engaged by the actuating element when the shaft is rocked in the opposite direction, and means for returning said levers to their initial positions comprising springs for returning said doors to their closed positions.

ANDREW S. KNAPP. 

